The Show Blocklist command in the Filter menu opens the Blocklist
window. The blocklist consists of a list of rules. If a message matches one
or more enabled rules on the blocklist (and Use SpamSieve blocklist is
checked), SpamSieve will predict that it is spam. As always, SpamSieve does not
prevent you from receiving the spam messages; rather, the blocklist ensures
that they will go to the spam mailbox rather than the inbox. You can also
configure Apple Mail so that the blocklisted messages go directly to the
trash.

There is normally no need for you to manually create or delete blocklist rules
because SpamSieve learns to recognize your spam automatically. Thus, it’s OK
if you receive spam from constantly changing addresses; you don’t have to worry
about creating blocklist rules to match all of them. If a lot of spam is in your
inbox, your first step should be to follow the instructions in Why is SpamSieve
not catching my spam? rather than to create blocklist rules that may not be
needed or even used (e.g. if the real problem is that your mail program isn’t
set up properly).

Rules and Training

By default, the Train SpamSieve blocklist preference is enabled. This means
that SpamSieve will automatically create blocklist rules when you train a
message as spam. You won’t get spam from the same address or sender name twice.

SpamSieve will also disable (uncheck) matching blocklist rules when you train a
message as good. This prevents a bad blocklist rule from blocking similar good
messages.

Editing Rules

You can edit a rule’s Header or Match Style by clicking in the
corresponding column and selecting from the pop-up menu. To edit a rule’s Text
to Match, double-click the text. For more information about the available
options see the Rule Columns, Headers, and Match Styles section.

Deleting and Disabling Rules

You can delete a rule from the blocklist by selecting it and pressing Delete.
Generally, there is little reason to delete rules. SpamSieve is optimized such
that having lots of rules does not reduce performance.

If you don’t like what a rule is doing, you should uncheck the rule rather than
deleting it. This will prevent SpamSieve from re-learning the rule automatically
(see “Rules and Training” above). For example, say that you get forged spam
messages from your own address. When you receive such a message, and tell
SpamSieve that it’s spam, any rule on the whitelist with your address would be
disabled. This will enable future such spam messages to be caught. If you later
get a legitimate message from your own address and tell SpamSieve that it’s
good, the whitelist rule will remain disabled, so SpamSieve will still be able
to catch that spam. If you had previously deleted the rule instead of disabling
it, telling SpamSieve that the message was good would create a new, enabled
whitelist rule, which would prevent those spam messages from being caught.

Blocklisting Domains and Countries

You can tell SpamSieve to classify every message from a particular domain as
spam. For example, to block every message from Spammy Company, open the
Blocklist window, click the + button, and create a rule that says From
(address) Ends With @spammycompany.com. You can also create rules for
particular countries. For example, to block every message from an e-mail address
in Nigeria, create a rule that says From (address) Ends With .ng

Blocking Messages to Invalid Addresses

If you have your own domain name, it’s best to configure the server not to have
a catch-all address because that
would lead to your receiving spam messages send to addresses that are not even
valid. SpamSieve could filter out those spams, but it’s better if you can avoid
downloading them and cluttering your spam mailbox in the first place.

If you cannot configure your server in that way, you can use the Matches
Regex match style to create a blocklist rule that matches messages sent to
invalid addresses at your domain. For example, this regex:

^.*(?<!^sales|^support)@domain\.com$

would match all messages where the match field ends with @domain.com but is
not sales@domain.com or support@domain.com.

Finding Rules

You can type the first few letters of a rule’s Text to
Match to quickly locate that rule, or use the search field in the toolbar to
focus on a group of related rules.